Jan Mayen Land

Jan Mayen Land, a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, named after the Dutch navigator by whom it was discovered in 1611. It lies between Iceland and Spitzbergen, and is 35 miles long. Its highest point is the extinct volcano of Beerenberg, 8350 feet (Mohn, 1887), the sides of which are covered with immense glaciers and frozen waterfalls. In 1882-83 it was made the station of the Austrian polar expedition. Important seal and whale fishings are carried on east and north of Jan Mayen every summer. For an account of the island, see Lord Dufferin's Letters from High Latitudes (2d ed. 1857), and Nature for August 1883.